Category Archives: fox hunting

Hunting for foxes

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Commentary, fox hunting, trail riding and tagged with
These elephant ears are right before the bridge leaving the farm

These elephant ears are right before the bridge leaving the farm.

On Sunday morning Freedom and I went hunting for foxes. Not foxhunting. Nope, I’d heard there were fox cubs in a den that I’d seen a few years back, so I saddled up and rode out to find them in the quiet of the early morning.

It was an amazingly beautiful out with so many flowering shrubs in their full glory and the grass in the meadows so tall that it brushed my feet. In places you could barely see the path. I think the first cutting hay will be magnificent.

We didn’t find the cubs but near the den we saw one of the healthiest, handsomest foxes! He or she had a huge, bushy tail that was tinged with black. Although the fox didn’t seem too worried about me, I wasn’t able to get close enough to snap a picture. My only complaint about the iPhone is that it’s difficult to ride AND operate the zoom function on the camera. I followed the fox for about five minutes until it went into someone’s yard. Obviously, it was out hunting

This hay field is just so inviting

This hay field is just so inviting!

for the cubs. I hope I see them soon. When there were cubs there a few years ago they were so curious and playful; it was hard sometimes to remember that they were wild animals and shouldn’t be coaxed over for a pat.

Spring hunting has begun!

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Commentary, fox hunting, foxhunting and tagged with
Watching the hounds come in

Watching the hounds come in from the first spring hunt.

The first day of the 2012 spring hunting season was, in a word, fabulous!

The weather for hunting was perfect — bright, sunny and not too warm. For a weekday we had a strong turnout; lots of people took the day off to enjoy our first day back.

Freedom was ready, and then some. It amazes me how the experienced hunters know their jobs so well. Although Freedom was excited as hacked to where the hounds were cast, he stood like a statue watching the hounds come out of the truck — like the other hunt horses, his focus was on them. As the hounds picked up the scent, he was with them. He watched the horses in front of him and kept an ear tuned to the hounds at all time. For a horse that sometimes doesn’t want to pass a strange dog on the trails, he could care less when a hound runs up under his legs or jump out of the woods. It’s his job and he’s all work.

The hounds stayed on the scent well. We were lucky to have several inches of rain on Monday which helped the scent hold and also made the footing much better.

I wasn’t sure how he was going to be. All week he’d been Spooky with a capital S. He was looking for any excuse to jump out of his skin. While he wanted to gallop, he was focused and didn’t argue too much when I asked him to slow down. We jumped the small fences (and the many, many fallen trees that littered the trails) but I opted to be conservative since it was only our second time out jumping xc since last fall.

Our field leader held a good pace throughout. We moved along, for sure, but I was glad that she kept the pace reasonable. Some of the horses that came out weren’t that fit; others need a few hunts to regain their equilibrium. It was certainly fast enough that it tired me out. I never got to my post yesterday because I fell asleep on the couch!

Two days and counting

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Commentary, fox hunting and tagged with , ,

ONBH HuntingOur Spring hunting season starts this Wednesday and I’ve been in count down mode now for the past few weeks.

I’ve gathered together my cubbing clothes.

I’ve polished my boots.

I’ve cleaned my tack.

I’ve checked the tire pressure on my trailer tires.

I’ve been taking Freedom on conditioning rides.

My conclusion? Freedom is plenty fit to hunt. He’s got more energy than the Energizer Bunny and since he was body clipped, he’s staying nice and cool even in the unusual heat.

I, on the other hand, am not quite fit enough. My quads ache after long rides. I can’t hold my half seat/galloping position long enough and I need a nap when I come home.

It’s time to break out my Wintec Pro Jump (with it’s nice sticky equisuede seat), full seat breeches (for the Velcro effect) and a neck strap for Freedom. Oh, yes — and that nice pelham bit that I’ve had on the shelf all winter.

Tally Ho!

Freedom the Field Hunter

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Commentary, fox hunting, foxhunting and tagged with , ,
Freedom out Hunting

Freedom loves his new job as a field hunter. He's calm, relaxed and always interested in what's happening around him.

Yesterday our hunt sponsored a Learn to Hunt clinic. Freedom and I were there, with some other members, to answer questions and demonstrate the behavior of a proper field hunter.

I was very proud of Freedom. He behaved impeccably. He worked in the crowd on a loose rein, stood like a statue when asked, and led a few horses over a small jump with no fuss.

Several people mentioned what a nice field hunter he was. But there was one family there that remembered how Freedom was when I first got him. “I can’t believe it is the same horse,” said one. “All he used to do was bounce up and down — I thought you would die,” she finished. Her mother added, “but you never gave up on him and look how he turned out.”

He did used to be quite, well, bouncy, for sure. I never thought he was dangerous but there were some days when I questioned my sanity. One day I took him on a three hour trail ride and he didn’t walk once. He either jigged or cantered in place the entire time. Other days he simply jumped up and down in place.

It took me almost two years to convince him that he didn’t always have to go first.

And when I put him on a trailer I had to start driving right away or he’d throw a fit.

How nice for everyone to think that he’s such a nice field hunter. I think so, too. And all it took was a couple of years, a lot of patience and a job that he loved.

 

 

Thank goodness horses are so forgiving

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Commentary, fox hunting, foxhunting, jumping and tagged with , ,

One thing I like about horses is they don’t hold a grudge. Even when maybe they should.

At the end of hunt season I rode badly to a big vertical. I didn’t realize that the ground dipped slightly before the fence, making it larger than I realized.

I could tell that Freedom didn’t like the fence but he’d been jumping really nicely this fall. After treating him for Lyme I brought him back slowly and he’d felt good. The weekend before we’d had a particularly good school over a xc course at a hunter pace. We were ready, I thought.

But I though wrong. Freedom came into the jump, got his front end over, and stopped. There were were, straddling the fence. This had never happened to me before. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I bailed. Freedom backed up, got himself free from the jump and galloped on up the hill without me.

I was glad to see him look unscathed and sound so I climbed back on and finished the hunt. When we got to the next fence, I wasn’t sure how he’d feel, whether my bad ride would make him uncertain about the wisdom of jumping. But other than jumping the fence with plenty of room to spare, he was fine. In fact, he jumped really well for the rest of the hunt; he was a good, brave boy.

When I got him home, I found that he had scrapes on both stifles where he’d caught them on the fence. I couldn’t see the scrapes out in the field under his hair. That made me feel really guilty. I shaved the area around the scrapes and applied antibiotic ointment.

The next day, he was sound but oh, were his stifles sore to the touch. He got a few light days of riding, some bute and my gratitude — for being a willing and trusting partner who chose not to hold my poor riding against me but who was willing to give me the benefit of the doubt and face each new challenge without